[47] Two short paragraphs as revised in the manuscript and first proof are deleted at this point in the second proof by Seward. Deletion adopted by Lincoln.

They are as follows:

``Whether the proceedings in the nature of blockade, be technically a blockade, scarcely needs to be considered; since foreign nations only claim what we concede, that, as between them and us, the strict law of blockade shall apply.

``The attention of Congress is sought in aid of this means for suppressing the insurrection, as the one affording at once, the greatest efficiency, and least danger to life, of any at the control of the government.''